


Public Displays of Affection

by scribblemyname



Series: Be Compromised 2014 Promptathon [12]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath, Community: be_compromised, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Public Display of Affection, Romance, Semi-Public Sex, Some Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-12 06:20:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2098791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/pseuds/scribblemyname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The moments they brushed hands or kissed softly or snuggled together on their downtime were generally kept behind closed doors. Generally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Public Displays of Affection

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crazy4Orcas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy4Orcas/gifts).



> Prompt by crazy4orcas: [5 increasingly affectionate public displays of affection. (and 1 time they got caught making out/having sex?)](http://be-compromised.livejournal.com/412023.html?thread=7888247#t7888247)

Natasha would be lying if she said she hadn't used PDA liberally as a SHIELD agent and as Clint Barton's partner in particular. But then again, _Clint_ would be lying if he said he didn't use PDA liberally as hers. Distraction, cover, decent cover for the fact that both of them liked having an excuse to pretend it didn't mean anything... Public displays of affection were a shoo-in for their work.

But the sincere ones? The moments they brushed hands or kissed softly or snuggled together on their downtime were generally kept behind closed doors. Generally.

* * *

When Natasha was still on probation at SHIELD after Clint had brought her in, he frequently spent time with her to make sure she knew that someone had her back in this new place and thought she was well worth the risk of leaving alive. Talking to her during visiting hours turned into showing her around to the areas she was cleared for, turned into working out with her in the gym, and eventually turned into helping her move into an apartment and taking her around New York to shop, to see places, to run, or to grab a cup of coffee.

"You drink entirely too much caffeine, Barton," she told him, eyebrow raised and slightly amused.

Clint shrugged easily with that lazy grin spreading across his face before he took another swallow. "I like the stuff. Works wonders for jetlag."

"Best not to rely on stimulants," she pointed out.

He laughed,  an unfettered rumbling sound that made something in her chest tighten suddenly.

Natasha liked Clint. She liked how he knew everything she was capable of, even admired it, was even capable of it himself, but he smiled, he laughed, he _lived_ in a way no one had ever taught her how. She liked that he was human and treated her like she was too.

She impulsively reached out and put her hand on his, covering the motion by leaning over to smell his coffee and wrinkle her nose at the hot bitterness. "Barbarian," she muttered, then drew her head back up.

His eyes were very serious.

She didn't pull her hand away.

* * *

"So this is your new apartment?" Natasha asked, hovering in the doorway, not entirely certain of her welcome. Clint was easygoing and friendly, but that didn't remove his preference for privacy and space, and this was undoubtedly _his_ space.

But Clint just unburied himself from a pile of boxes and grinned at her. "You like it?"

She looked around then at the wide open floorplan, the huge windows covering the far wall, the clean lines of granite countertop and wood floor. "It looks like an enemy sniper's wet dream." She gave the windows a pointed look.

"Aww, Natasha. I didn't know you cared." He held up what looked like a black box but one that was probably more dangerous than it let on. "That's what the security system's for."

She wasn't particularly impressed, but she let him show her around, show her the homemade system he had set up (okay, _slightly_ impressed), and then introduce her to his dog and ask her to walk with them.

"I didn't even know you had a dog," she commented, still staring in disbelief at Lucky, a mutt of indiscernible lineage. She figured even a genetic expert might have trouble figuring out his family tree.

Clint just shrugged easily and untangled the leash while ordering Lucky to quit running around in circles. "He sort of found me one day, ate my pizza over my strenuous protests, then I just didn't have the heart to kick him out. Took him down to the vet, got his shots done, got him registered." He shrugged again and looked at Natasha as if weighing how she would respond.

She was mostly thinking about how weirdly parallel her story was to a dog. "You have a thing for strays?" she asked suddenly.

Clint paused.

Lucky barked at him as he pulled on the leash.

It wasn't fair really to put it like that. Natasha knew Clint had a heart too big for the work he did, and she was grateful, _grateful_ he'd decided to let her live, but...

She wasn't sure what she wanted instead, but she didn't like the idea of being just a stray.

"Is that what you think?" Clint asked slowly, trying to read her with that focused gaze of his.

Natasha looked down at Lucky. The dog had his ears perked and his head cocked at her as questioning as his master.

"I don't know what to think," she finally answered wearily.

She started walking again. After a moment, Clint joined her.

"I don't kill people I don't have to."

"Fine words for an assassin," she answered.

"You're not a stray," he continued, undaunted. "You're my friend."

She chewed on that halfway around the park as Clint petted and talked to Lucky off and on with the walking. It wasn't so bad, she decided, to start where she'd started if she ended up here.

On the way back, she slipped her hand into Clint's and didn't say anything when he gave her a startled glance. She didn't do public displays of friendship much, let alone affection, but she held his hand the whole way back to his apartment and when he asked her to stay, she answered yes.

* * *

Natasha was leaving for Russia and Clint was heading back to New Mexico. It had been a few years and moments and kisses and sleepless nights and sleepy mornings since that first time he'd invited her in to stay, but Natasha stayed very private with her personal life and relationships. She didn't share, and she didn't advertise what was hers.

So perhaps it was perfectly natural that Clint expected the same stoic parting at the airfield they always had when separated. Partners.

Except Natasha already missed him and desperate for _something_ , she leaned up and kissed his cheek, then looked into his startled gaze and whispered, "Be safe."

Then she pulled away and turned toward her flight to walk stiffly away from Clint. Natasha was very aware that several of her fellow agents were staring. She opted to ignore them and pretend she had just had the same exact stoic parting as always.

* * *

After New York, Clint was the one who couldn't quite keep his hands off. He would tuck his arm around her waist or pull her snug against him when they were standing or sitting together. Natasha would lean her head on his shoulder and loop her arm with his to let him know she had his back.

He'd done it for her in less obvious, less physical ways in the aftermath of her defection when SHIELD spent weeks digging through her head to deal with all the triggers and conditioning hidden in there. She did it for him now as they dug through his to clean up after Loki.

They tangled together on the media room couch at SHIELD headquarters while waiting for his next appointment, and when Clint sighed heavily, not even seeing the television, she sat up a little and kissed him warmly.

"It'll be fine," she told him.

He tightened his grip on her waist. "As long as I have you."

* * *

Steve Rogers was a good partner, not the best but pretty well near it. Still, Natasha didn't feel okay, didn't feel right, didn't feel like her heart would ever start beating again after everything with SHIELD had gone down until she was standing at the airstrip and watching Clint get off the old Quinjet he'd had with him for his mission.

She hadn't been there for him when HYDRA was revealed, and she had had no way to know that his team was all really SHIELD, really there for him instead of against him.

Clint was standing there, alive, squinting into the sun as he looked for her.

She didn't even remember starting to move, just knew the moment she was in his arms and kissing him desperately at last, like he was oxygen and she could finally breathe. He held her tightly, his bag dropping to the tarmac, and he kissed her mouth, her face, her neck, holding her like he'd never let her go again.

* * *

Finding the Winter Soldier hadn't been the easiest thing Steve had ever done, but it had been worth it when he found instead of the cold-blooded assassin, his friend, Bucky. Perhaps the memories weren't all there yet, but there was just enough and it was worth it.

Steve and Sam exchanged tired, weary smiles as they headed toward the Avengers Tower elevator with Bucky. Steve pressed the up button, then waited until the doors opened.

All three men stood there as if frozen, and Steve swallowed hard as the elevator doors closed again.

That had been Clint and Natasha, kissing. Never mind, a  _lot_ more than kissing. There had definitely been disrobing involved.

"You know, I'd like to walk," Sam said, finally breaking them out of their pause.

Bucky cracked a smile. Steve shuddered. They took the stairs.


End file.
